‘Only hand pickers,’ Konkola Mines denies allegations of illegal mining

Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) says there is no illegal mining taking place at the company as measures to secure the mine have been put up.

KCM General Manager for Corporate Affairs, Shapi Shachinda, said only hand pickers were sneaking in from time to time and not full-fledged illegal mining.

Last week, Patriotic Front (PF) aspiring presidential candidate, Chishimba Kambwili, challenged government to denounce illegal large-scale mining at KCM.

Kambwili said most people believed high-ranking UPND officials were involved in the scandal.

Read more: Vedanta’s downgrade from ‘stable’ to ‘negative’ raises concern over firm’s capacity to manage KCM, Mopani mines —Haabazoka

He dared government to conduct comprehensive investigations into reports that a mining firm, Sensele Mine was allegedly conducting large-scale illegal mining at KCM and allay fears that some politically connected leaders were involved.

But Shachinda in an interview with Zambia Monitor on Saturday said: “What I can tell you is there is nothing like illegal mining going on at KCM and people should stop creating that narrative.”

Shachinda also assured the nation that there would be no job losses at KCM as the firm had been in receivership for some time and that it was doing everything possible to ensure that people’s jobs were secured.

“Let me assure you that despite being in receivership, people’s jobs are still intact despite Government being in negotiations with various institutions and even Vedanta to come back and take over the running of the mining company,” he said.

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